NRI minister Shriti Vadera in UK to quit

LONDON: Britain's high-profile Indian-origin Business Minister Shriti Vadera, considered close to Premier Gordon Brown, is set to step down and don a new role in the Downing Street to help tackle the global financial crisis.

Baroness Vadera will now advise the G-20 on the design of institutions needed to implement the "framework of sustainable and balanced growth" to be agreed this week, official sources here said, without disclosing when she will resign.

Vadera, a former investment banker, was a senior Treasury adviser to Brown when he was Chancellor and has remained one of his key aides since he became Prime Minister.

She will be replaced as Minister for Competitiveness, Small Business and Enterprise by Mervyn Davies.

BBC reported that as Gordon Brown's closest adviser on economic and financial matters, she will be seen as working on what he hopes will be his legacy - a formal structure for creating a more stable global economy.

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said Baroness Vadera had made a "tremendous contribution" to his department. "She has worked tirelessly to ensure businesses, especially small businesses, are supported through the recession and emerge stronger at the other side," he said.

"Shriti has real passion for G-20 and has done excellent work already promoting international action to tackle the financial crisis. So this is a logical move for her and us," Mandelson said.

The Prime Minister's office, however, refused to comment on the development. "She is a minister as we speak," a spokeswoman said.

According to the 'Financial Times', Vadera is tipped for a possible role as Britain's next European Commissioner, although this has been downplayed by European Union officials.